Building brands
one tweet, post
and like at a time

“You have to get in front of the customer,
and the customer is online. Google has
effectively replaced the Yellow Pages.”

 Malcolm Faulds, senior vice president of marketing for BzzAgent

A look at three different companies—one small, one medium and one large—shows that regardless of your business size, you can create an effective social media program that grows your brand and profits.

Dell tweets to sales

The business media went wild a couple of years ago when Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, announced it earned $6.5 million in two years directly from its tweets. Since then the personal electronics giant has shied away from sharing sales figures. “We’re trying not to make sales the focus of Twitter,” says Laura Thomas who manages the company’s social media. “Our main focus is to engage and connect with customers and listen to what they’re saying about Dell.”

Dell was one of the earliest adopters of Twitter after their marketing team saw it presented at the South by Southwest festival in 2007. The team began to experiment with the new medium by launching several accounts, seeing what stuck. Today there are several dozen official accounts serving sales, promotions, customer service and news. The first big success was the @DellOutlet feed, which has 1.5 million followers who keep an eye out for the latest Dell bargains—many exclusive to Twitter followers who click through tweeted links.

The other main function is customer service. Dell chief blogger Lionel Menchaca tweets on behalf of the company as a customer service expert on his personal account @LionelatDell, which serves two purposes. One, customers can communicate directly with him. And two, it allows Menchaca to let his personality shine through and further engage with customers. “As our Twitter involvement became more formalized, we made sure each official @Dell account had a face and person connected to it,” Thomas says. “We want customers to feel like a real human is behind it—that their messages are not going into a black hole.”

Dell’s primary customer service Twitter account, @DellCares, is committed to quickly resolving customer issues. Recently a woman in Poland tweeted a service issue, and less than 24 hours later she tweeted a thanks to @DellCares for putting her in touch with her in-country support, which resolved the problem. Customer service accounts also help the company identify trends, including product defects that may need addressing by the sales or product development teams.

Twitter is such an integral part of Dell that the company now requires social media training for all employees. Key lessons include being transparent: “Make sure the person knows they are talking to a real person at Dell,” Thomson says. Be conversational and engaging and make sure that the media helps you do your job better—and is not just a chore. “Don’t just blast information out and not respond,” Thomson advises. “Listen to what people are talking about.”

Renee Rouleau drives sales with a master social media plan

A social media campaign was a natural progression for Renee Rouleau Skin Care. The business has two Dallas-area spas and a line of skin care products that have been sold online for 13 years. “When social media came along, it was right up my alley because we’d been online for so long,” says owner Renee Rouleau, adding that her Twitter and Facebook accounts got an immediate boost from her blog’s already powerful search engine optimization strength. “But you need to have a good plan. For me, my social media strength is in building trust as a skin care expert.”

Her first foray into social media was blogging, and today her company website is home to more than 700 blog posts—most of them on evergreen topics about skin care. Rouleau repurposes this archive through Twitter where she has nearly 9,000 followers, or Facebook where her business has 2,500 “likes.” When a fan or follower asks a skin care question, Rouleau responds with a link to an appropriate blog post, driving traffic to her site while quickly answering followers’ questions about cystic acne and sun spots.

Each of her social media outlets has its own unique voice. Rouleau writes all of the blog and Facebook posts and the tweets, though a freelance social media expert posts them based on a schedule. “Facebook is more of a corporate voice, while Twitter is my personal voice,” Rouleau explains. A recent Twitter campaign involved a step-by-step real-time facial Rouleau administered to herself in her home bathroom, complete with pictures and an appearance by her dog, Duke.

Over time Rouleau has learned to strike a balance between revealing her personal life and offering practical information. “When I was first on Twitter it was much more personal,” she says. “While people want to know I’m human, they’re much more interested in skin care information because that is what will make their lives better.”

The business has benefited from the power of celebrity, as Rouleau has celebrity clientele. A recent tweet by teen actress Demi Lovato mentioning Renee Rouleau resulted in 1,200 new followers for the company.

In 2010, Twitter’s 106 million users
were doing 55 million tweets per day.

Twitter stats via businessinsider.com

The result is a dynamic community of experts, novices and, ultimately, customers who help each other in their passion for growing. A single post inquiring about a strange white growth on tomato plant leaves can generate between 12 and 100 posts almost immediately, Podlesny says.

A surprise twist to this newfound community is the collective of experts in varied climates who help each other. “Gardening in New Jersey is vastly different than gardening in Texas,” says Podlesny, adding that this extra expertise from afar only drives more business, as customers across the country can find support on his Facebook page.

Podlesny spends a quarter of each day on social media, updating his blog and Facebook page, and tweeting about the highlights. The company doesn’t invest in any other advertising or marketing. Several gardening writers are members of the Facebook page, as are local TV network affiliates, which have found the company through social media and featured Podlesny and his company.

On the occasions the gardener does post about the company’s offerings, the results can be powerful. A recent single Facebook post about a 50-cent seed sale generated 600 orders. “We were expecting 20 or 30,” he admits. Podlesny developed a policy about negative or unwanted posts: All user comments stand, and he addresses those that are less than positive. Spam about unrelated products is deleted, though he reaches out to the poster to explain.

“The key is to find what works,” he says of creating online content. “We’ve realized that the secret is to engage in constructive conversation so we can be responsive to people’s needs.”

Emma Johnson is an award-winning journalist who specializes in money, business and finance. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Success, Forbes, Wired and Psychology Today.

Build your own brand

To businesses thinking of dipping a toe in the social media waters, or honing an existing practice, Malcolm Faulds offers a few tips:

• “If you decide the social media route is right for your business, then go into it whole hog,” Faulds says. Dedicate time—or an employee’s time—to tweeting, updating Facebook and managing city listings like Yelp and Citysearch. Commit to a minimum number of posts and interactions daily. Hire a consultant to boost your campaign. It is better to have no Facebook fan page than one with five “likes”—all from people who share your last name.
• Have a conversation. “Businesses that effectively play in the social media space do not broadcast messages,” Faulds says. Instead, they listen to users. Share information that is entertaining or useful. Respond to messages and be helpful—not every post should have a direct connection to your business, but instead intone that you understand the user and what is of interest to them.
• Create a policy for dealing with negative social media. A lousy Yelp review? Reach out to the user directly and rectify the situation. Decide whether you will delete negative Facebook posts or respond to complaints publicly. Then be consistent.
• Use social media to get attention from traditional media. Find out who the influencers are in your space—journalists, important bloggers—and tweet at them, tag them in your Facebook posts or mention their work on your blog. This will heighten your chances of appearing in their stories. “You don’t have to take on the expense of going the traditional PR route,” Faulds says. “You can do it yourself—just make sure you have something meaningful to offer.”